Replacing TS MS25 for MS25

[louisM92]

Hi does anyone have a clear tutorial on how to replace my MS25 drive with the exact same one that doesnt involve swapping the PCB boards????

[sadalius]

That would be easy. Just follow any guide on how to flash an ms-25. There will be two parts, one to dump the firmware and create the hacked firmware and the other part tells you how to flash it. After the point that you dump the original firmware and get the hacked firmware created, simply unhood the original drive and connect the new one. Then just complete the flash. The easiest thing to do would be to swap the PCB's out though.

[louisM92]

So let me get this straight:

1. Use iPrep to get my old firmware and create the new hacked firmware

2. Then use the flash command in iPrep to flash the new drive.

If im wrong please could you correct me.

[sadalius]

100% correct sir. That will work like a charm as long as your dealing with the same exact drive, which in your case is two ms-25's so yup, it'll work.

[louisM92]

Thanks alot sadalius, hopefully my new drive will arrive tomorrow so i can get back onto xbox live and kick some ass lol.

Ive already got a dump of my firmware from my broken drive and a hacked firmware created by iPrep so should i create the boot disc again, put my SAMCFW and SAMOFW in the BACKUP dictionary of the boot disc and continue with flashing with the new drive as if its the same one that i read the firmware from?

Oh yh have you ever seen the problem where the xbox says play dvd when you put a game in the console, this is why im getting a new drive.

Maybe i should of looked more into my problem before buying a new drive straight away lol.

[sadalius]

In my experience, when you put in a game and it says that, it has something to do with the drive key not being right. Has this drive ever been replaced or flashed before? If it's been replaced, do you know if the drive key for that console was put it? If it was flashed, was the drive key verified before flashing it?

There are other problems that can cause that, but thats the biggest thing that jumps out in my mind at the moment. If you've still got the original and hacked firmware, check it with firmware toolbox and see if the key looks valid. The key should appear as a bunch on random numbers and characters. It should not appear as all one character or number.

But yeah, if everything checks out with the drive key, then all you should have to do is drop the ofw and cfw into the right folder and then flash it. You would have to create a folder in the backups folder named with a 7 digit serial number. Then inside that one, create a folder named with the first 5 digits of that serial number, then your firmware files go in that folder. For example, the path would need to be something like this, X:\BACKUPS\1234567\12345\SAM-CFW.BIN

that way, when you run iprep to flash the command would be fsam 1234567 12345 then iprep would see the hacked firmware and then guide you through the process of flashing the new drive.

[louisM92]

Yes i have checked the drive key and it is as normal as any other drive should be , a bunch of scrambled up numbers and letters

I have just made a boot disc ready for when the drive arrives and have made the right dictionary for the firmware.

Any other causes for the PLAY DVD problem??

[sadalius]

If the laser is going out, that can cause problems. If there is some other physical problem with the drive that would prevent the correct key values from being transmitted to the console when its queried for it, but thats about it really.

[louisM92]

Well the key looks great so im just assuming its a hardware fault ill find out by the time the new drive arrives.

Thanks for all your help

[sadalius]

If you run into any snags, just let us know, we'll try and help you out as much as we can.

[louisM92]

OK thanks a lot

[louisM92]

Hey sadalius ive just got my new drive so im going to give it a try and replace my old drive

[sadalius]

Ok, cool. Let us know how it goes man.

[louisM92]

Just one question before i go ahead and do it,
After iPrep has read and created the hacked firmware, it asks if i want to spoof the firmware as a MS25,
What should i do when it asks me this?

[sadalius]

You can do that either way. Your console will accept an MS-28 and think it's an upgrade being put in by microsoft. Basically, it will work either way. Just make sure you get your drive key in the new firmware.